New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-05-08
LONGFELLOW.
FURTHER EXTRACTS FROM HIS LETTERS
AND JOURNAL.

vii 447. Ticknor 20.
Mr.. Samuel Longfelow has done us all service
by the publication of this supplement- TO MS pioe-
raphy of the poet The simple and beautliui iiio
was so truthfully and clearly presenter I'D
the earlier volumes that no important
addition to the story should DO On
ootod here and tbe new selections from the letters
and diaries do not differ in kind from ,hose WIN
which we are already acquainted. The task OF the
editor has simply been to print matter which he
excluded from the or gina work for fear OF giving
too much, an toadd a few letters which have Dut
lately come into his hands But If there is nothing
especially novel in the Final Memorials, no one
will be likely to think of them as supernuous'
They are not inferior in quaiiU W 'no
first selections They have the same cnarni VI
frankness and simplicity, the same zone OF gcn'io
ness. sympathy and generosity; and they prlhg us
once more into that delightful company OF W'S'
scholars. and loving fren DIS in when LohgIeio"
always seems to be the sweetest presence. MosI Oh
the passages from the diary belong to the last NJ
teen wears of the poets life This the period in
which tho balance and dignity OF
his character seemed most attractive
the range of his feelings most complete.
and his temperament most gentle and serene ana
II was the period of his most frequent intercourse
with celebrated personages. The additional eH-
tracts therefore illustrate his most winning trats
express his rpest judgments of men and DOCKS anu
exhibit his daily at the summit OF MS iaino
They show only moro plainly than ever the ADMIR-
able spectacle already familiar to us OF DISPOSE
ton growing more and more lovely with age d
modesty unspoiled by success. and simplicity ap-
solutely proof against aduation.
perbaps the effect of the book upon the whole Is
some what melancholy. A great part OF IL Is 'uo
formal and correspondence of profoundly sensi-
hnh aQ
severe domestic sorrow. and has outiIved many vi
his dearest friends Year by year he saw the circle
of his associates growing smaller these
milestones are so many" he writes on MS
sixty-seventh birthday, that they peein
TO look like graveyard Death touched him
deeply The tragedy of his own household as we
see from these pages. never lost its bitterness.
stand here at my desk by the window ne writes
to Charles Sumner, thinking of you ana hopinR
Won will open some other letter from Boston before
Won do mine so that may not be the first to break
TO you the sad news of Prescotts death" sor-
rowful and distracted week IL the
entry in his journal. April 20 1881.
"Fields died on Sunday, the oath, and was
buried on on Tuesday. Dr. Paefrey died on Tues
dav and will be buried to-day. Two old and
intimate friends IN one week." Nevertheless IL
would be great mistake not to recognize the calm,
coutented. philosophic spirit in which Longfelow
lived his venerable old age. He felt keen pleasure
in the testimonies of regard which were heaped
nnon him: he was moved by the celebrations In
which new friends helped the old to keep his BIRTH
DAYS. "To those who ask" he wrote to lady,
"'how l can write so many things that sound as
If were happy as boy please say that there IS
IN neighboring town pear-tree planted by Gov
ernor Endicott 200 years ago, and 1t still bears
fruit not to be distinguished from that OF a young
tree in flavor. Isuppose the tree makes new wood
every year. so that some parIs OF 1t are always
young. Perhaps this is the way with some men
when they grow old ; 1 hope it is so with me-"
In the diary for January, 1871. we read
18th Arassiz comes. 1t is very sad to sec the
strong man weakened. He said, l cannot work"
and mt his face in his hands and wept. com
forred him, as we'll as could, with the thought
calmly; that old age is better than youth for
system and supervision, though not Tor swirl
execution of details.
The following letter is highly characteristic:
To @. ". Chitds
You do not know vet what it is to be seventy
wears old " i'll tell you, that you may not be
taken by surprise whsn your turn comes 1t is like
climbing the Alps. You reach a snow crowned
summit, and see behind you the deep valley
etretclng miles and miles away, and before you
other SUBMITS higher and whittier, which You may
have strength to climb or ay not. linen yon SIT
down and Mediate and wonder v hich 1t VIII De-
All that one can say is that life is opportunity.
The removal of The North american Reriew
from Boston to New-York affected LoDgfellow al
most like the death of friend He has been look
ing over the index and he writes to G. w. Greene.
envy regrets rendered more keen than ever that the
Reye,c should have slipped its moorings IN Massa-
chusetts Bay and drifted down to the mouth of the
Hudson. 1t must be towed back again and safely
anchored in our harbor." Three years later
he WHITES TO the same friend: 81 agree with you
about The North american RereW. There is a bit Of
of the romance OF our youth con-
nected with it. If we were young.
we should probably want to get possession of it. 1t
should return, like the Prodgal Son, to its fathers
bouse. and become again a solid and respectable
quarterly"
The works of Longfelow of which the Final
Memorials" contain the most abundant
traces are the Dante, with many notices OF
the meetings of the Dante Club at his
bouse. and the series of little volumes entitled
"Poems of Places a selection of pieces in which
he seems to have taken a remarkable interest
There are many references also to the " Christus,
and the poet apparently entertained for his postum
mously published Michael Angelo regard which
has not been generally shared by the public. There
are some cordial appropriations of Lowell. and other
contemporary writers, but such critical notes are
few; and although Longfellow was a great reader
in many departments of modern literature he gen.
orally expresses himself about modern authors with
marked reserve. He shows some dsrelish for Victor
Hugo and Browning as he also does for Rabelais-
which Is only what we might have expected. This
latter TO Dr. Holmes is one of the most elaborate OF
the literary judgments which find in the present
volume:
October, %, 1880
thank you thousand times for your Poem,
which | have read with great pleasure and with
that tingling along the veins which is the sure
indication of poetic electricity in the atmosphere OF
a book Whenever you fly book You bring II
down as Franklin did when flying bis kite. II il
lightning from the air AMI not galyanism from
earthly acids.